Small Business Administration pauses grants for Minnesota amid fraud scandal

Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler said Monday that she is pausing her department’s annual funding to Minnesota while it investigates alleged fraud in a COVID-era lending program.The Trump administration official said her department was investigating $430 million in suspected Payment Protection Program fraud across the state. 
Minnesota has also been accused of allowing widespread fraud schemes to infiltrate other publicly funded programs, such as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, and steal millions of taxpayer dollars.
“This Admin will not continue to hand out blank checks to fraudsters,” Loeffler posted on X. “We will not rest until we clean up the criminal networks that have been stealing from American taxpayers.”
The pause comes after Loeffler sent Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz a letter last week, outlining the disbursements of at least $2.5 million in PPP and Economic Injury Disaster Loans that were allegedly sent to individuals indicted as part of a wide-ranging investigation into fraud involving Minnesota’s social services programs, according to The Hill.
The PPP and EIDL programs were both established during the COVID-19 pandemic to help struggling Americans. But the House Committee on Small Businesses has opened a probe into alleged “fraud and concealment” within both programs. 
Walz’s office has told The Hill that it had “no role” in administering PPP and EIDL funds, but the governor has opened a third-party audit into 14 high-risk programs under the Minnesota Department of Human Services. 
Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.

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